Mike Brown highlights Kobe's defensive effort

Kobe Bryant made some more NBA history with his offense Sunday, becoming the youngest player in league history to reach 28,000 points for his career.

Bryant needed four points in Denver to get there, but it was a struggle to get there. Bryant shot 1 for 10 from the field in the first half but got his fourth point on a free throw 1:17 into the second half. Bryant, 33, displaced Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, 34, atop the chart.

It was Bryant's defense that Mike Brown was smiling about before the game, though. Brown mentioned how he noticed Bryant on Saturday jumping in the air in a desperate effort to distract a Denver shooter after dropping inside properly to help in team defense.

Brown said Bryant was about 15 feet away but still jumped, trying to do what he could on defense.

"That was pretty neat," Brown said.

One of Brown's primary crusades is to get the Lakers to defend shots more consistently and make extra efforts in attempts to recover. Bryant has been honored with NBA All-Defensive team honors 11 times, including last season, though Phil Jackson and his assistants coaches didn't think Bryant was consistent with his effort at that end.

Brown brought Bryant up after talking about the effort plays made by Derek Fisher and Steve Blake late in the Lakers' Saturday victory over Denver. Bryant, however, disobeyed one of Brown's cardinal rules late in the game Sunday in Denver, arguing with a referee about not getting a call instead of hustling back immediately in transition defense -- leading to a Danilo Gallinari layup. Soon after, neither Bryant nor Blake got back in transition for another costly defensive error.

"The crowd got behind Denver, and they got layup after layup after layup, because we couldn't understand that Gallinari is contesting shots and then running down the floor," Brown said after the game. "As a group, we are watching the ball bounce off the rim."

Brown also talked before the game about how much Bryant still requires double-teams from defenses on offense. Brown expects Bryant to do more and more passing out of double-teams this season on pick-and-rolls, in addition to post-ups or elbow isolations.

"You double him on the pick-and-roll or he's going to tear you apart," Brown said.

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